Manny Jacinto is addressing his Top Gun: Maverick snub.
The Acolyte star, who was cast in the 2022 Top Gun sequel as Lt. Billy ‘Fritz’ Avalone, recently reflected on learning that his lines had been nixed from the film, and that his role was seemingly limited to background appearances, per Variety.
“It’s flattering that there was a little bit of an outcry, but it wasn’t shocking to me,” he told GQ with respect to the fan backlash over his reduced role. “There was this sense of where the film was going [on set], like I can see them focusing the camera more on these [other] guys and not taking so much time on our scenes.”
Jacinto still described the role as “a great experience,” explaining that “you get to see this huge machine at work, see how Tom Cruise works, and you get to be a small part of this huge franchise.”
Despite the praise for the Mission: Impossible mogul, he conceded that the dismay “kind of fuels you,” highlighting that “at the end of the day, Tom Cruise is writing stories for Tom Cruise.”
“It’s up to us — Asian Americans, people of color — to be that [for ourselves],” he added. “We can’t wait for somebody else to do it. If we want bigger stories out there, we have to make them for ourselves.”
The Good Place and Nine Perfect Strangers alum has earned a ton of recent buzz for his run on the Star Wars prequel series, which wrapped its first season on Disney+ on Tuesday (July 16).
Jacinto was cast in the highly anticipated Freaky Friday sequel, as well, which will see the return of several original stars including Lindsay Lohan, Jamie Lee Curtis, Chad Michael Murray and Mark Harmon.
